Normally I'm pretty good at figuring out stuff like this... but I just don't see how flesh eating plants are going to take out the metal (or otherwise non-organic) robots.
Uru was great, but online not for everyone
on
Uru Makes A Comeback
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I've been a very big Myst fan for years, but when I first heard that Cyan was making an online game, I was very hesitant to try it. I didn't think there was any way that it would work, especially since one of the best parts of the other games was the atmosphere from being alone. When I saw that they were taking applications for the beta, I figured that I didn't have anything to lose by signing up, so I did. A few months passed and, since news of the game was coming very slowly, I forgot about it. Then, one day, I got an email saying that I had been accepted in the latest wave of testers. After reading through the NDA very carefully (my first experience with one), I accepted and installed the game. It crashed a few times at first, but that was because of my out of date video drivers. Once I got that fixed and I started to play the game, I started to see that the idea really could work.
The first thing that really caught me was the story. I had just read The Book of Atrus before playing, and so I was very excited when I started the game at the cleft where Atrus grew up. It also started me out alone. There were no people walking around, no chat screen scrolling by, nothing to indicate that this was an MMOG at all. There was no way to interact with anyone until after you'd already solved the first puzzle and you were able to visit the city of D'ni. Even after that, every person had their own instance of each age, so you could go through the majority of the game without seeing anyone else.
I played alone for a while and I really liked what I saw. The controls were somewhat awkward at first, but I got used to them. Once I did, I found that the immersion factor was much closer to the original games than I expected. It made me sad at times when I was reminded that I was sitting in my room at my computer and not actually exploring the worlds in the game. The first time I visited the city, I just couldn't shake the desire to actually go there. That was also the first time that I saw anyone else in the game. This was still three months before the game was released and they didn't have that many people testing at the time, so the city was almost empty. As I ran around, I came into hearing range of a couple of other testers and was startled when I saw their chat come up on my screen. Within a few moments I had found them, but didn't say anything to them. It was still too weird for me to talk to anyone in a Myst game. Over the next few weeks, more testers were added and it became hard not to run into someone in the city, so eventually I had to interact with someone. This whole time, I'd been dreading talking to others because I knew that I would just run into a bunch of kids spamming for help with puzzles and trolling and the standard MMOG chat, which would really ruin the atmosphere. However, I was plesantly surprised when I found out that there were actually very few people like that. In fact, I later learned that the average age of the people testing was in the 30s. It was even pretty common to run into a grandmother exploring the cavern. Very soon, I found that the social aspect of the game was actually very enjoyable. We would often invite groups to visit our instances of the ages (which is how you would solve puzzles together) just to hang out there.
After a few months in the closed beta, the release date finally arrived. Unfortunately, there were still some major problems with the game. The release really should have been pushed back, but I got the idea that Ubisoft wouldn't let that happen. So, rather than release a product that just wasn't ready, they came up with the idea of the Prologue... essentially an open beta after release. As people bought the game, they were let online in waves. Meanwhile, they were still able to visit all the ages and solve the puzzles except in the city as a single player game, which worked pretty well. Over the next few months, Cyan worked very hard to fix the problems with the online portion, but before they could, Ubisoft pulled the plug. Personally, I share the same opinion
Although. . . I'm rather puzzled that Cyan needs 3rd party funding. Myst was (and may still be) the best selling game of all time (at least it held that title for awhile). How could Cyan not have a development warchest to do whatever they want with?
I was thinking about doing this for Guild Wars months ago, but I don't have the time or the knowledge/skill needed. I have a friend who has the knowledge/skill who was willing to help, but he doesn't have time for it either, so it never got done.
I don't know if you were going for funny or not, but I agree. Riven is probably the most atmospheric game I've ever played. Sure, I spent most of the game walking around completely alone, but that's the point. It can be really creepy turning out the lights, turning up the volume, and playing the game for a while. Myst III was also very good. I got through it very quickly (no more than 10 hours), but in that amount of time I had become pretty attached to Saavedro. Any game that short that can get you attached to the bad guy who you only see a few short times has done something right.
It's not all Baptists. I'm a Baptist and I won't hesitate to tell you that there is nothing wrong with drinking. It's getting drunk that the Bible warns against. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul even tells Timothy that he should drink occasionally for health reasons (1 Tim. 5:23). And then there was the whole turning water into wine thing (John 2:1-10). The Bible clearly views alcohol as something that should be enjoyed, as long as it's in moderation.
The music from Myst is great, but Riven's is even better. I have both soundtracks and I listen to them regularly. Riven's is especially good to listen to in the car while you're driving down and dark and creepy road. It makes the drive so much more exciting.
I can't find any announcement saying that this will be the final beta weekend. There's nothing on the official site about it, and the FAQ kind of makes it sound like it won't be.
When will Guild Wars be released? UPDATED!
Guild Wars is currently in alpha testing on a daily basis, and holds beta testing during Beta Weekend Events, the next of which begins on January 7th. We will take as much time as necessary to balance and polish the game based on feedback received during beta testing. We anticipate that we will release Guild Wars in early 2005.
I thought up a suit that used this same idea to "cloak" the wearer when I was in 9th grade. I eventually decided that it wouldn't work. No matter how well the illusion can be done, the object is still going to cast a shadow.
I saw the dress rehersal for Aida a week ago. I saw the glowing dress and kept thinking to myself "Sure the lady is fat, but where are they hiding all those lights?"
I'm a begining programmer and I want to try to go though this and see what I can learn from it, but this much code is a little overwhelming, so I wanted to ask if anyone who knows more could give me a good file to start with. Or am I just an idiot for thinking that someone who's only taken one semester of C++ could ever figure this out? Thanks
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Normally I'm pretty good at figuring out stuff like this... but I just don't see how flesh eating plants are going to take out the metal (or otherwise non-organic) robots.
I've been a very big Myst fan for years, but when I first heard that Cyan was making an online game, I was very hesitant to try it. I didn't think there was any way that it would work, especially since one of the best parts of the other games was the atmosphere from being alone. When I saw that they were taking applications for the beta, I figured that I didn't have anything to lose by signing up, so I did. A few months passed and, since news of the game was coming very slowly, I forgot about it. Then, one day, I got an email saying that I had been accepted in the latest wave of testers. After reading through the NDA very carefully (my first experience with one), I accepted and installed the game. It crashed a few times at first, but that was because of my out of date video drivers. Once I got that fixed and I started to play the game, I started to see that the idea really could work.
The first thing that really caught me was the story. I had just read The Book of Atrus before playing, and so I was very excited when I started the game at the cleft where Atrus grew up. It also started me out alone. There were no people walking around, no chat screen scrolling by, nothing to indicate that this was an MMOG at all. There was no way to interact with anyone until after you'd already solved the first puzzle and you were able to visit the city of D'ni. Even after that, every person had their own instance of each age, so you could go through the majority of the game without seeing anyone else.
I played alone for a while and I really liked what I saw. The controls were somewhat awkward at first, but I got used to them. Once I did, I found that the immersion factor was much closer to the original games than I expected. It made me sad at times when I was reminded that I was sitting in my room at my computer and not actually exploring the worlds in the game. The first time I visited the city, I just couldn't shake the desire to actually go there. That was also the first time that I saw anyone else in the game. This was still three months before the game was released and they didn't have that many people testing at the time, so the city was almost empty. As I ran around, I came into hearing range of a couple of other testers and was startled when I saw their chat come up on my screen. Within a few moments I had found them, but didn't say anything to them. It was still too weird for me to talk to anyone in a Myst game. Over the next few weeks, more testers were added and it became hard not to run into someone in the city, so eventually I had to interact with someone. This whole time, I'd been dreading talking to others because I knew that I would just run into a bunch of kids spamming for help with puzzles and trolling and the standard MMOG chat, which would really ruin the atmosphere. However, I was plesantly surprised when I found out that there were actually very few people like that. In fact, I later learned that the average age of the people testing was in the 30s. It was even pretty common to run into a grandmother exploring the cavern. Very soon, I found that the social aspect of the game was actually very enjoyable. We would often invite groups to visit our instances of the ages (which is how you would solve puzzles together) just to hang out there.
After a few months in the closed beta, the release date finally arrived. Unfortunately, there were still some major problems with the game. The release really should have been pushed back, but I got the idea that Ubisoft wouldn't let that happen. So, rather than release a product that just wasn't ready, they came up with the idea of the Prologue... essentially an open beta after release. As people bought the game, they were let online in waves. Meanwhile, they were still able to visit all the ages and solve the puzzles except in the city as a single player game, which worked pretty well. Over the next few months, Cyan worked very hard to fix the problems with the online portion, but before they could, Ubisoft pulled the plug. Personally, I share the same opinion
This probably has something to do with it.
I was thinking about doing this for Guild Wars months ago, but I don't have the time or the knowledge/skill needed. I have a friend who has the knowledge/skill who was willing to help, but he doesn't have time for it either, so it never got done.
You could always learn to use Left-handed Dvorak.
I don't know if you were going for funny or not, but I agree. Riven is probably the most atmospheric game I've ever played. Sure, I spent most of the game walking around completely alone, but that's the point. It can be really creepy turning out the lights, turning up the volume, and playing the game for a while. Myst III was also very good. I got through it very quickly (no more than 10 hours), but in that amount of time I had become pretty attached to Saavedro. Any game that short that can get you attached to the bad guy who you only see a few short times has done something right.
How does this compromise personal and national security?
It's not all Baptists. I'm a Baptist and I won't hesitate to tell you that there is nothing wrong with drinking. It's getting drunk that the Bible warns against. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul even tells Timothy that he should drink occasionally for health reasons (1 Tim. 5:23). And then there was the whole turning water into wine thing (John 2:1-10). The Bible clearly views alcohol as something that should be enjoyed, as long as it's in moderation.
Try this. That should effectively stop the slide show.
The music from Myst is great, but Riven's is even better. I have both soundtracks and I listen to them regularly. Riven's is especially good to listen to in the car while you're driving down and dark and creepy road. It makes the drive so much more exciting.
I thought up a suit that used this same idea to "cloak" the wearer when I was in 9th grade. I eventually decided that it wouldn't work. No matter how well the illusion can be done, the object is still going to cast a shadow.
Phantasmagoria has Riven beat with 7 cds. It's an interactive movie/game by Sierra On-Line from 1995.
Looks like this company is in trouble.
I saw the dress rehersal for Aida a week ago. I saw the glowing dress and kept thinking to myself "Sure the lady is fat, but where are they hiding all those lights?"
I'm a begining programmer and I want to try to go though this and see what I can learn from it, but this much code is a little overwhelming, so I wanted to ask if anyone who knows more could give me a good file to start with. Or am I just an idiot for thinking that someone who's only taken one semester of C++ could ever figure this out? Thanks